The treatment would be tested on stage four cancer patients who have not shown response to currently available treatments.

University of Alberta has reportedly taken a pioneering step towards developing a treatment for cancer as it announces commencement of its human trial for new cancer drug dubbed, PCLX-001, in three Canadian cities by late 2020.

According to reliable sources, researchers have discovered that a compound earlier developed in a Scottish university to cure African sleeping sickness could shrink cancerous human tumors when trialed on mice. PCLX-001 was developed by Pacylex, a spinoff company of the University of Alberta, and is set to be tested on stage four cancer patients who are not responding to existing treatments.

Reportedly, Luc Berthiaume, Pacylex’s Co-Founder and a cell biology professor at U of A, begun researching on the compound almost 10 years ago. Berthiaume claims that the lab tests showed PCLX-001 was more efficient than the two prominent drugs for leukemia and lymphoma. Besides, it also showed a strong potential against colon, lung, and breast cancers.

Speaking on the move, Dr. John Mackey, Co-founder of Pacylex and Director of clinical trials at the Cross Cancer Institute, said that the project has come to an exciting point and is on the verge to potentially make a huge difference in the field of medical science.

Additionally, the drug’s safety was evaluated in pre-clinical models and Pacylex is currently applying for phase one human studies at B.C. Cancer Centre in Vancouver, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto, and the Cross Cancer Institute in Edmonton.

In other news, preclinical research conducted by NewYork-Presbyterian investigators and Weill Cornell Medicine revealed that palbociclib could accelerate chemotherapy’s effectiveness in pancreatic cancer if both the treatments are registered in right sequences.

Source Credit: https://edmontonjournal.com/news/local-news/cancer-treatment-developed-at-u-of-a-heading-for-human-drug-trials/